


Forgiveness. Can You Imagine?

by abldav



Series: The 100 Prompts [4]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Lack of Forgiveness, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-22 09:07:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6073420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abldav/pseuds/abldav
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Just because you’re my mother doesn’t mean I’m going to forgive you.”</p><p>A.K.A. Clarke finds out about Abby's betrayal.</p><p>AU - The Ark is fine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forgiveness. Can You Imagine?

Clarke hated the Ark. She hated the rationing, she hated the hierarchy, but most of all she hated that every crime had to end in death. Nothing was excusable. Stealing medicine to heal your family? Floated. Trading items on the black market? Floated. Sure, if you were a minor you could have a few more years to live, but once you turned eighteen you were dead. 

 

It took her years to realize the brutal reality of it. To realize the inequality on the ship she had always considered home. 

 

When Clarke was twelve, her mom brought her to Medical to intern and learn the ropes. Clarke was there when the the Guard came to take a patient that couldn’t have been older than twenty and was covered in stab wounds. They said he had been in a fight. Clarke argued on his behalf; she said that the man had obviously been attacked. They said he had, but he had gotten into a fight. The Guard took him. He was floated an hour later.

 

When Clarke asked her mom about it her only response was, “This is the way things are.” For Clarke, that wasn’t enough.

 

Fast forward years later, and things are still the same. Her father has been executed for the smuggling of rations. She has learned that not every station gets the same food or medical treatment. She has learned that even the oxygen saturation is different. This is unacceptable.

 

Clarke starts following in her father’s footsteps, transporting food and medical supplies from Alpha station. There is nothing she can do about the air, but she can’t just sit there while others are starving. She can’t let her father’s legacy die.

 

One day she’s distracted, lost in her own head. She isn’t being observant enough. She doesn’t see the guard turning the corner behind her. She is stopped, arrested, and sent to the Sky Box. She doesn’t mind. She overhears the guards talking about her. “Just like her father.” It’s the best compliment she has ever received.

 

She only stays in the Sky Box for a few days before she’s released. It’s when she’s leaving that she learns the truth. Her mother reported her father. 

 

Her mother hugs her when the guards finally escort her home. Clarke can’t make herself hug her back. She can only stand there, stiff, as her mother continues on about having “almost lost” her. It’s that sentence that finally does her in.

 

“You have lost me,” Clarke says, unblinking.

 

“Clarke?” Her mother’s eyebrows furrow, wrinkling her forehead. 

 

“Why did you get me excused.” It is a statement, not a question. Abby knows this.

 

“Clarke,” Abby says, tilting her head slightly and placing her hand on Clarke’s shoulder. “You’re my daughter. I couldn’t just let you die.”

 

Clarke feels like she’s looking at her mother for the first time. “But you could let your husband die.”

 

Abby takes a step back. “What?”

 

“You saved me, but you let Dad die for the exact same crime. You turned him in. You turned him in for trying to help people.”

 

“Clarke, you have to understand. Someone was bound to find out and I couldn’t just—”

 

“Enough.” Abby goes quiet, surprised at the authority in her daughter’s voice. “Just because you’re my mother doesn’t mean I’m going to forgive you.”

  
Clarke doesn’t wait for a response. She turns and, without looking back, walks away.

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from "It's Quiet Uptown" from Hamilton.
> 
> If you have any prompt requests, leave them in the comments and I'll probably maybe get to it when I have the motivation.
> 
> Come visit on tumblr: @fen-ha-fuck-you


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